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Diane Hendricks
Status
Born in 1947 (age –). Living in Afton, Wisconsin.
Criminal status: No personal convictions
Summary
Diane Hendricks co-founded ABC Supply Co., Inc. in 1982 with her late husband Kenneth Hendricks in Beloit, Wisconsin. Following Ken Hendricks' death in 2007, Diane became sole owner and chairman. Under her leadership, ABC Supply grew through two major acquisitions — buying rival Bradco in 2010 and building materials distributor L&W Supply in 2016 — and is now North America's largest wholesale distributor of roofing materials, with $20.2 billion in 2025 revenues and over 20,000 associates across more than 900 locations.
Hendricks also chairs Hendricks Holding Co., Inc., a portfolio company spanning manufacturing, distribution, real estate development, construction, recycling, and life sciences. Hendricks Holding is the lead investor and majority shareholder of NorthStar Medical Technologies LLC, a global innovator in the production and distribution of radioisotopes used for medical imaging.
Business Relationships
Hendricks serves as a board member of Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that builds specially adapted homes for severely wounded veterans.
Ownership
Hendricks holds sole ownership of ABC Supply as the company's only shareholder, a position she has held since Ken Hendricks' death in 2007. Both ABC Supply and Hendricks Holding Co. are privately held, with no external shareholders. Hendricks Holding serves as the lead investor and majority shareholder of NorthStar Medical Technologies LLC.
Family & Heirs
Diane Hendricks grew up as one of nine sisters on a dairy farm in Osseo, Wisconsin. She co-founded ABC Supply in 1982 alongside Kenneth Hendricks, who died in 2007, leaving Diane as sole owner of the company. She has seven children.
Evidence
2011-01-18 - 😈 - On video, privately urged Gov. Walker to eliminate public sector unions and make Wisconsin a right-to-work state
2012-05-11 - 😈 - Made the largest single donation in Wisconsin political history at the time — USD 500,000 — to Gov. Walker's 2012 recall campaign
2016-10-28 - 😈 - Pumped USD 5.5 million into Reform America Fund super PAC, bankrolling attack ads against Hillary Clinton and Russ Feingold in Wisconsin
2017-11-15 - 😈 - ABC Supply cited by OSHA for a repeat fall-protection violation (USD 32,955 penalty)
2019-01-01 - 😇 - Hendricks Family Foundation committed USD 100,000 to the Nancy B. Parker Nursing Scholars Program at Blackhawk Technical College
2020-03-31 - 😈 - Donated USD 2,800 to the primary campaign of QAnon believer Marjorie Taylor Greene
2022-03-14 - 😈 - ABC Supply cited by OSHA for a serious safety violation (USD 8,287 penalty)
2024-08-31 - 😈 - Donated USD 10 million to MAGA Inc. super PAC in August 2024, the largest single contribution to the group that month
2025-04-10 - 😇 - Hendricks Family Foundation committed USD 500,000 to the Woodman's Sports and Convention Center, a USD 46 million community complex in Janesville
2025-08-26 - 😇 - Hendricks Family Foundation gave USD 1 million to Beloit Public Library's Discovery PLAYce early-childhood learning space
2025-12-15 - 😈 - Donated USD 1 million to the Wisconsin Republican Assembly Campaign Committee
2026-03-04 - 😇 - ABC Supply earned its 20th consecutive Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award for employee engagement
Analysis
Diane Hendricks built ABC Supply from a two-person startup in Beloit into a $20.2 billion enterprise and has channeled a portion of her fortune into genuine community investment. The Hendricks Family Foundation has funded homeless veteran transitional housing, breast cancer and reconstructive surgery research at the University of Wisconsin, nursing scholarships at Blackhawk Technical College, an early-childhood learning space at Beloit Public Library, and a proposed $2.5 million literacy program for Beloit public schools. ABC Supply's 20 consecutive Gallup Exceptional Workplace Awards and its new multimillion-dollar Learning Center for associate training point to real investment in its 20,000 workers.
That workplace record sits alongside two OSHA citations — a repeat fall-protection violation in 2017 and a serious safety violation in 2022 — and a separate personal matter: Hendricks' Wisconsin estate was under-assessed by roughly a third of its value, and she denied a tax assessor access to the property before the assessment was corrected.
The political record cuts sharply the other way. In 2011, Hendricks was caught on video privately urging Governor Walker to "divide and conquer" public sector unions — a conversation that preceded Wisconsin's landmark anti-collective-bargaining legislation. She followed that with the largest single donation in Wisconsin political history at the time to Walker's recall campaign, and in 2018 was the sole disclosed donor to a legal defense fund for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — a regulator overseeing her own industry — in a payment an EPA ethics official said did not clear required review.
Her political spending has escalated sharply since those early efforts. She directed $5.5 million to an anti-Clinton super PAC in 2016, $10 million to MAGA Inc in August 2024, and $25 million to the same super PAC in March 2026 — weeks after the Trump administration appointed her to the presidential Olympic delegation.
Questions
What does it mean that ABC Supply invests heavily in worker training and wins repeated workplace-culture awards while also drawing repeat OSHA safety citations, and while Hendricks simultaneously funds legislation that restricts public workers' collective bargaining rights? Is an employee-first culture within a private company compatible with a political agenda that systematically undercuts organized labor across the broader economy?
The timing of the USD 25 million MAGA Inc. donation — coming weeks after a presidential appointment — raises questions that have not been resolved, echoing the pattern from her earlier contribution to Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund while he headed the agency regulating her industry. Reasonable people disagree about whether this reflects ordinary political loyalty or something more troubling about the relationship between major donors and political access.
Redemption Arc
Hendricks' philanthropic commitments have deepened over time, culminating in the ambitious USD 2.5 million public school literacy proposal and the Discovery PLAYce early-learning gift. But her political spending has also accelerated sharply: the USD 25 million March 2026 donation is her largest single political contribution to date. The two trajectories — genuine local generosity and escalating political financial intervention — are running in parallel, with the political side growing faster.